No let up in Covid-19 scare: Over 25 test +ve
President, PM, HM call off Holi celebrations
Samples of all six persons taken to check for coronavirus (Covid-19) infection from Noida have tested negative. However, officials said that these people have been kept for self-quarantine at their homes for the next 14 days. These six had come in contact with a Delhi-based man who has tested positive for the Covid-19 infection during a party thrown by him on February 28.
A total of 28 Covid-19 cases were detected in India so far. Among them, one person was from Delhi, six of his relatives in Agra, 16 Italians and their Indian driver, one in Telangana and the three earlier cases in Kerala. Ministry of External Affairs said 17 Indians abroad have been infected.
So far, 5,89,000 people have been screened at airports, over 10 lakh screened at borders with Nepal and around 27,000 were currently under community surveillance, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said.
All international passengers will henceforth be screened at airports, Vardhan said. Earlier, travellers from only 12 countries were screened at airports for the disease.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said efforts are on to check and screen 88 people who came in contact with the Delhi man who tested positive for coronavirus.
A taskforce headed by him has been formed to tackle the situation emerging from the coronavirus infection and there is no need to panic, he said.
Noida and adjoining Delhi was caught in panic after samples of six people, including three children, were sent for coronavirus test on Tuesday, four days after they came in contact with a Delhi-based man who has tested positive.
The possibility of a coronavirus outbreak had triggered widespread panic in Noida, on the outskirts of Delhi, as hundreds of people rushed to pharmacies to buy safety masks and hand-sanitisers.
In Noida, as many as
373 people who have travelled abroad since January 15 have been kept under surveillance so far as possible carriers of Covid-19.
“Till Tuesday evening,
373 people who have travelled abroad after January 15 have been put on surveillance. Of them, 55 people have been tested for the virus.
49 of them, including the six from Tuesday, have tested negative. Results of remaining six are awaited,” Chief Medical Officer of Gautam Buddh Nagar, Anurag Bhargava said.
“Seventy-four people at present are under surveillance, while five were cross referred, meaning they were not from
Gautam Buddh Nagar,” the CMO added.
However, even though local administration has not asked any school to close down, three schools in the national capital and adjoining areas have announced holiday for students and staff as a precautionary measure to prevent spread of coronavirus, while two schools advanced their spring break and others sent out advisories to parents.
On Tuesday, a day after the Union Health Ministry reported two fresh cases of coronavirus in the country with one of them in Delhi, two Noida schools sent messages to parents announcing their closure.
One of the two schools, where the infected Delhi man’s son is a student in a primary class, said it will remain shut from March 4 to March 6.
A school in Delhi has announced it will be closed from Thursday while its two branches in Gurgaon have advanced their spring break and will now close from Saturday.
Amity International Schools in Delhi-NCR have fumigated their classrooms and sent advisories to parents detailing the dos and don’ts.
Sardar Patel Vidyalaya in Delhi has asked parents to inform school authorities if anybody in the family or even relatives who frequently visit are suffering from cough and cold. Schools in the region have also suggested parents to not send their wards to attend classes even in case of mild cough or cold.
A coronavirus testing lab will be set up at the Lady Hardinge Hospital and also at the LNJP Hospital if necessary, Kejriwal said.
There is no shortage of masks, the chief minister added.
Municipal corporations in Delhi are contacting and screening tourists from four countries where most cases of the infection have come to light.
The screening is being done at hotels and guesthouses in the city, he said. Isolation wards in
19 government and six private hospitals are being readied in case of need, Kejriwal stated.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah they would not participate in ‘Holi Milan’ functions in the wake of the reports of outbreak of the virus in different places. Other BJP leaders too announced that they will not participate in Holi Milan.
Later, President Ram Nath Kovind’s office also tweeted that the Rashtrapati Bhavan will not hold the traditional Holi gatherings as a precautionary measure as with “alertness and safeguards, we all can help contain the outbreak of
Covid-19”.
NINE ITALIAN tourists and their Indian guide were quarantined near Chhatarpur for suspected exposure to the novel coronavirus. The tourists and their guide arrived in MP by road after travelling by a train to Jhansi from Agra.
A PAYTM EMPLOYEE in Gurgaon has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the company said advising its employees to work from home for the next couple of days. The infected employee had returned from a vacation in Italy.